


Shadows on the Moon

by tsumi



Series: Light hides in the Shadows [1]
Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-04-21
Packaged: 2018-01-20 06:40:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1500530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsumi/pseuds/tsumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fantasy AU, the Lunacroft kingdom falls to The Nightmare King,  leaving rumors that the young prince and his guard survived.  Years later the young prince Lunar and his guardians try to restore the rightful tsar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadows on the Moon

It happened on the longest night of the year. After the sun had gone down the people gathered in the temple and waited for midnight to come. It was always this way on the Solstice. First the darkness would come and then the people would wait for the light. 

The stars started going out, slowly at first, then they dimmed and faded in a rush. For a few moments, everything was black. No one moved and then golden lights began to appear in the dark. But the pinpricks of light were not the stars returning. No, those lights were the eyes of creatures in the dark.

Someone gasped and at once that sound was a signal. The shadow things rushed upon the people, as they stood frozen in fear. The things were wisps of shadow that filled into solid creatures as they fell upon their victims. As they overtook their prey, they took forms of human shape or great black horses with flaming eyes. 

Leading the carnage was a man so surrounded by shadows he appeared no more than a nightmare himself. He was tall and aristocratic with ashen skin. Obeying this figure the monsters spread terror and ruin in their wake. The people ran for the gates of the castle in hope of safety. The King's knights herded them through the gates shutting them as the monsters came closer. The king's champion a young man in silver armor stepped forward. Moving to stand between the people and their attackers he carried a spear tipped in starlight. 

The man stopped before the champion. The monsters around him paused, waiting for his commands. 

“This is all you send against me?” The dark man sneered. “Half grown children.”  
“We are knights of the Lunar kingdom and you will not get past us.” the Champion answered weapon at the ready.  
“If you think you can stop me. Be my guest.” A black sword formed in the dark man's hand.

Sparks flew when the weapons first clashed. The shadowy monsters reared back out of the way. The champion grit his teeth as he tried to hold off his opponent's blade. He skipped back out of reach of a slash catching the edge of the sword with the tip of his Spear. The man lunged forward attempting to knock the spear out of the knight's hands. With a twist the silver weapon flew across the court. The dark sword was leveled at his throat before he could dive for it. 

“You are good Nightlight, but not as good as I could have made you.” The man pulled his blade back as if to let him go for his weapon.

“There's nothing you could teach me” Nightlight shot back ducking and running for the dropped Spear. Before he could reach it the man stabbed him in the back only inches from his heart.

“I could teach you everything.” he twisted the blade shoving Nightlight to the hard ground. Pulling the weapon free he dismissed the sword and looked at the other knights who stood frozen at the sight of their leader struggling to sit up.

“Who are you?” on of the others demanded.

“You will call me the Nightmare King.” He grabbed the fallen weapon and broke it in half as the nightmares surged toward the knights who were unable to stop the wave of darkness.

Turning from the carnage the Nightmare King dropped the tip of the spear before the fallen champion. Nightlight glared up at him as his vision faded and he collapsed.

“Open the gates, we will have this kingdom.” he turned from his victim and back to his goal, the castle and it's people. The monsters under his command charged the guards ignoring the civilians who huddled in fear. The Nightmare King followed in their wake.

Within the palace more guards tried and failed to stop the shadows and their master. Finally in the great hall a blinding flash of light stopped them. The source of this light was the palace's ruler a glowing gold sword in hand. 

“So here you are Lunar. I thought you would continue to hide behind your little knights.” The Nightmare King sneered dropping he remains of the silver spear. It hit the white marble with a metallic skitter.

“Nightlight.” Lunar gasped. “I would never hide from a monster like you.” he raised his sword letting it's light block out the shadowy things that writhed around the self proclaimed Nightmare King. The shadows moved back out of the range of the sword's light, Lunar stepped closer to the dark king ready to fight. He had to protect his wife and child, his kingdom. Nightlight his champion had fallen but his sacrifice would not be in vain. 

“Your precious light cannot hurt me.” He called his sword to his hand and the lights in the castle dimmed leaving a halo of gold light around the pair. “You will join your champion 

“I will stand in your way as long as I can, Monster.” Lunar Stated 

The family wing is quiet except for the wailing of an infant as its mother hands it to an old man. For a moment the queen wanted to snatch her son back and run, but she would not leave her husband to fight off these things alone if they got past Nightlight and his knights. She let her hands drop to her sides one brushing the hilt of the sword she wore. 

“Take him to the pooka in the mountains they should be able to protect him form these monsters.” She told the old man turning to the child’s things and placing supplies in a bag. “These should last until you get there.”

“You should come with me, my dear.” The man told her cradling the child close with one arm; He took the bag she held out and thew I over his shoulder before grabbing up his staff. 

“No Ombric, my place is with my husband even in death, if we cannot fend him off it will be up to our son when he is grown.” she pulled out her own sword and smiled sadly, Pointedly not looking at either the wizard or her son. “Go.”

“As my queen commands.” Ombric slipped away into a secret passage as the lights in the hall gutter out, and the doors to the royal apartment are thrown from their hinges. The shadows approach her with a cruel smile. She held up her blade ready to buy the wizard time to escape.

888888888888888

 

Darkness and pain are all Nightlight can see or feel. He should not be alive after that hit, the sword had pierced strait through him. It hurts to breath and it’s both freezing and too hto at the same time. Something touches his forehead, the pain slowly eases and gray eyes snap open. The world is too blurry to really see anything but formless gray shapes in front of his eyes. He can almost make out messy white hair and the top of an old wood staff illuminated by a dim lantern.

“Nightlight, that’s a good lad, you are injured but still with us.” Ombric’s voice sounded cheerful, but his anxiety is easy to hear. Nightlight struggled to sit up but a soft weight in his lap stopped him. “Stay put boy, there is quite a hole in your armor. Let me get a look at it.”

“Ombric?” The old man had placed a blanket wrapped bundle in his lap. In the dim light he can see the infant prince staring up at him with solemn gold eyes. He smiles through the pain in his side as Ombric kneeled to peel the broken armor from his torso. The infant smiled back and blinked sleepily. He had to protect the prince, his wounds were not that important if the boy was in danger.

“We should find shelter first, for the prince.” Nightlight gritted his teeth as the wizard prodded at the edges of the damaged armor then set about unhooking the clasps to his breastplate.

“We need it bandage you first or you might not make it to the Enclave yourself. You duty is to protect our prince, You have to be alive and whole to do that.” Ombric removed his cloak dropping it over Nightlights lap to keep both him and child warm in the cold night air. The knight was in shock from the wound, of that Ombric was sure. Or else he should have been shivering from the winter air.

The clasps were easy to open but he had to be careful of the hole over nightlight’s chest, both armor and skin looked melted and burnt. Blood began to sluggishly seep from the puncture as he pulled the shirt away. The wound looked deep, Ombric was not sure how Nightlight had not fainted again, from the pain alone. 

“What happened? That monster wiped out my men.” Nightlight finally asked he had not moved since The prince had been covered in the old wizard’s cloak, He was holding himself by will alone not to show any pain as Ombric pulled a water skin from the bag at his side.

“We lost, He also felled both our king and queen, she sent me away with the prince.” Ombric said quietly doing what he could for the wound, It was not a perfect job he was a wizard not a healer. 

“We have to stop him.” Nightlight struggled to reach for the blade of his broken spear that lay close by, it seemed the monster had simply thrown him away like a broken toy after almost killing him, though if Ombric had not found him he would probably have died from blood loss alone.

“It’s too late for that my friend.” Ombric shook his head; “We are the only ones left to protect the boy.”  
He placed his hands on the blood stained fabric “You are in no condition to do either.”  
Nightlight made to argue but the man would hear none it. “We must get you to a healer. He sighed looking to the haphazard job he had managed. Alas my skills do not lie in that direction.” 

Ombric stood and lifted his cloak then the child from Nightlight’s lap. The knight looked up at him with a frown, how would he stand? Ombric looked around then finally handed Nightlight his staff, The knight slowly stood with it and leaned heavily against the ancient wood.

“Where will we find a healer?” Nightlight gestured to the ruins around them in slowly growing dawn light.

“I do know a place, the queen asked me to take the prince there, The Pooka Enclave.”

“They do not like outsiders.” Nightlight pointed out.  
Then it is a good thing I am not an outsider, I learned a lot of my magic from them.” Ombric stated,  
“Then we had best hurry before someone sees us.” Nightlight sighed and followed him out of the ruins of the city.

888888888888888888 

The harsh cold of winter did not penetrate the small cup of woods nestled in the foothills. Flowers bloomed out of season and the trees remained lush and green. In the center of this paradise was a small village, its inhabitants were the mysterious Pooka, a race of warriors and mages; beings so in tune with the natural world that they could feel the earth’s life all around them. Ombric remembers the valley from his travels in his youth when he was learning all he could of magic. This was where he lead the injured knight carrying the small infant hoping the pooka would help them and shelter them for a time. 

It is the smoke rising in the distance that makes him rethink this. What they found was far worse than the palace, the fine little cottages were burned out husks and without their care taker’s magic in place the trees were succumbing to winter’s grasp.  
The worse thing were the bodies, most lay untouched, faces twisted in expressions of sheer terror. The warrior’s bodies were far worse, they had been torn apart. They stared at the destruction unable to comprehend the amount of damage this place had endured. 

“We should look for survivors, but I hold no illusions anyone survived.” Ombric muttered, just before something comes flying at them and Nightlight deflected it with the top half of his spear. In front of the pair was a pooka warrior, He was dirty and his fur matted to his body with dried blood, he wore a brown leather bandoleer and held a weapon in one hand like paw. Tall ears were held tight to his head, as he stood ready to fight. Then rose slowly as he recognized the intruders.

“Ombric?” the pooka sank to his haunches. “What are you doing here? And why do you have an infant?” 

“Aster? My boy what happened?” The old wizard didn’t move closer wary of his old friend. Pooka looked like animals and in times of stress could be as likely to run or fight like one. 

“These things come from the mountains, we fought em but, we didn’t have the strength to stand against them.” Aster answered, The damage around them could attest to that.

“They got the castle as well.” Ombric stated, “it was all I could do to get the prince out. Though luckily I also tripped over Nightlight.”

“So they wanted the whole kingdom.” Nightlight muttered. 

“But why wipe out the Pooka?” Ombric asked. 

“We have, had the strongest mages and warriors, most of the army was made up of our clan.” Aster sniffed and looked at Nightlight. “You sit.” he told Nightlight, digging into his bandoleer. 

“Why?” Nightlight asked, but he let himself be pushed to the ground gently as Aster undid the bandages and looked closely at the knight’s torso. 

“You’re injured.” the Pooka growled looking over the injury. Nightlight was glad he had dealt with pooka healers before and was not surprised by the pooka licking his wounds to clean the blood off. “You should not even be up wandering around in the middle of winter.”

“I have to protect the prince.” he bit out. He was the Tsar’s champion, it was his duty.

“Yeah that is a good reason to wear yourself out, you get yourself killed and then what is the kit gonna do?” 

“I…I don’t know.” Nightlight looked at Ombric who had sat close by with the boy.

“He is right though Nightlight, you can’t handle this by yourself right now.” The Old wizard told him cradling the child. The knight nodded as the boy looked at him reaching out his hands for Nightlight.

Aster smeared bitter smelling salve on the slashes across his torso and the stab wound. He kept sniffing as he worked. The dark dangerous magic on the wound made his nose twitch.

“Ya lucky ya know,” Aster said sitting back digging in his pouches for new bandages.  
“Why?” Nightlight winced as the bandages tightened.  
“There is a curse on the blade that hit you, but somehow you are immune to it.” He looked the shining youth over again, this time with some newfound respect.  
“Is that why everyone fell so fast?” Nightlight asked. His men had not been able to defend themselves from the nightmares as he had.  
“Yes,” Aster growled. “Ya either die or become one of those shadow monsters.”  
“That kind of magic is forbidden.” Ombric Said looking in this bag for something to keep the child quiet while they waited. The boy had been napping but had woken up at Aster’s attack. He finally found some biscuits and gave one to the boy to gnaw on.

“Don’t matter if it’s forbidden if someone decided not to play by the rules.” Aster bit out, not looking at the old man and the infant he was feeding.  
“What are we going to do now? We survived barely and as soon as he realizes there were survivors he might hunt us down. Nowhere is going to be safe from things like that.”

“Well one place might be safer.” Ombric answered looking north.

“The Wastes?” Bunnymund shook his head, “That place is wild and full of bandits, we’d be mugged and strung up in a day.”  
“Normally yes, but I do have an old tower up there, and my apprentice is living there now. “  
“You do?” Nightlight and Aster both stared at the old man. “In the North wastes?”  
“Why yes, I lived there for years before becoming the Royal tutor and mage” Ombric informed them.


End file.
